Finger Gulch: Shelterwood-Strip-Clearcutting 



Description 



This area contains two clearcut strips, 4 to 9 chains wide, and adjacent shelter- 

 wood cuttings. The clearcut portions total 17 acres and straddle the main stream and 

 a tributary while 21 acres of shelterwood occupy the upper slopes and ridgetops. 

 Ecologically, the area is a mosaic of Thuj a - Tsuga/Pachistima and Abies grandis/ 

 Pachistima habitat types with northeasterly-through-southerly-to-southwesterly aspects. 

 The timber was horse- logged in 1937. Slash on the clearcut strips was broadcast-burned 

 in 1938 and 1939. The shelterwood cutting left 50 percent of the western white pine 

 volume and an average of 15 trees per acre exceeding 14 inches d.b.h. The defective 

 residual trees in the shelterwood were slashed, piled, and burned. 



Results 



Stocking of all species combined on the shelterwood portion of the Finger Gulch 

 area was over 80 percent at the time of the first survey, 14 years after logging (fig. 

 12). It seems likely that stocking reached an adequate level prior to the tenth year. 

 Grand fir occupies the most prominent position, followed by hemlock and western white 

 pine . 



On the clearcut strips, 13 years passed before the all-species' stocking level 

 was adequate (fig. 13). As on the shelterwood area, grand fir was the best distributed 

 species, but hemlock was superior numerically because of its high density in small 

 areas where topography and moisture favored its establishment . 



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